Auckland: World No. 5 mixed doubles pair Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying kept their nerves to hold off local shuttlers Edward Lau/Alyssa Tagle in the second round of the New Zealand Open on Thursday.
The Malaysian No. 2 seeds were in complete control as they needed only 25 minutes to see off the New Zealand pair.
Chan/Goh will face compatriots Tan Kian Meng/Lai Pei Jing in the quarter-finals on Friday.
Tan/Lai, on the other hand, proved far too strong for Akbar Bintang Cahyono/Annisa Saufika of Indonesia, overcoming the Indonesian pair 21-13, 21-10 in 29 minutes.
In men’s singles, Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia weathered a stern test from the impressive Kazumasa Sakai by winning the first set 23-21.
The 21-year-old Malaysian then continued to widen the gap after the second set interval to wrap up the game 21-16.
Lee is set to take on the winner between Lee Hyun Il or Angus Ng Ka Long in the final eight.
The men’s singles No. 1 seed Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia will face Chong Wei Feng of Malaysia at 6pm New Zealand time while two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan will meet Sai B Praneeth of India at 7pm New Zealand time.
New Zealand Open is the first tournament that offers qualification points for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with total prize money of US$150,000.
